


A Continued Rebellion

by botgal



Series: All That Glitters [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Ancestors (Homestuck), As Story Continues, Gemstuck, Steven Universe AU, all the trolls are gems, ancestors exist alongside the kids, may contain human kids later, will increase character and relationship lis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-26
Updated: 2016-12-01
Packaged: 2018-08-27 03:38:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8385730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/botgal/pseuds/botgal
Summary: In the days of war, Kankri, Rubellite, the Signless was their leader. But when it had ended, and time passed, he was forced to leave them due to his damaged gem. Now, when a new generation of Gems has emerged from the Earth's bountiful crust to help them defend it, their leader's gem reforms.Only, it's not him that emerges.This is the story of Karkat, the new persona of a Rubellite they had once known;  inheritor of a mighty legacy of rebellion, danger, mystery, and lies.And, the story of how this new, changed group of rebel Gems must continue to fight for the planet they're sworn to protect





	1. We Are the Gems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we meet the Gem guardians of Earth.

The still, yet clear air of the ruins echoed with the sounds of metal against crumbling rock; as well as the quick, agile taps of feet barely touching the ground as their owners skimmed over the loose, silty ground. It caused a bit of a slide despite the otherwise flat plane of the ruin's old battlefield, but that was within margin for error. At the very least, it was suited decently to the two who currently fought within the ancient arena's confines.

Two Gems currently fought within the arena, the same type, though of different appearances. Both were what would be normally called 'Yellow Aventurine', but they called themselves each by different names. Though he had another, 'real name', he preferred to go by the one he had in his older days: 'Psiioniic' His younger charge went by 'Sollux'. They both shared the name of 'Captor' after their initial names to indicate a shared sort of bond as Gems of the same type, but that was most all they shared as far as their relations went. Gem types aside, they were master and student, and they were both hard in training.

“Keep your focus, Sollux! Do you think a battle against a real monster will allow you to make any mistakes?” From the gem situated on his left shoulder, Psiioniic pulled three throwing stars which he held between his fingers. With what seemed to be an almost easy flick of the wrist, he sent the weapons hurtling toward his young ward. “Don't dodge! Deflect!”

Sollux narrowed his eyes behind the pair of red and blue sunglasses he donned, and the air around him crackled with energy. Two of the projectiles were immediately deflected, and were sent either flying off into oblivion or straight into the walls of the arena. Whatever the case, they were gone. However, the third took no such course. Despite his best efforts, that one still whizzed in a beeline directly at him, and it was only by a quick dodge to his left that he avoided anything worse than a graze on his cheek from the tip as it passed him.

“No, Sollux! You missed one!” Psiioniic came forward and stood over Sollux as the younger wiped at the nick he'd received. “You need to keep stretching the limits of your powers, or else-”

“Yeah yeah, I fucking know. Or else I'll be a giant failure and all my friends will die and blah blah I fucking get it already,” Sollux snapped in his characteristic lisp. “You don't have to remind me every time I fuck up for god's sakes!”

“Then I would hope I don't have to remind you every time that you need to watch your language!” Psiioniic snapped in return. “Or that you shouldn't talk back to your elders. Especially when you know I'm right.” Sollux gritted his slightly disproportioned fangs, but made no further comment. He didn't want to get into this too far or else he wouldn't hear the end of it.

“Whatever,” he grunted.

“Let's hope that you don't keep that attitude all day. We have plenty of work to keep on with.” He pulled another couple of throwing starts from his gem and moved back to position. “Alright then, again from the top.”

–-----

Nepeta tensed her claws into the wood as she gazed through the denseness of the foliage, eyes narrowed and hindquarters wiggling slightly. She could see her master, 'the Disciple', as the older Diopside sat easily in the midst of a clearing. A grave mistake for her.

The shafts of sunlight shone right onto the parts she was going to be aiming for, it was honestly almost too perfect a thing. Nepeta wound herself up, tensing all her muscles in preparation, and in a moment she was bolting off and vaulting the wood at her target. She yowled like a cat as she flew at Disciple, claw-like weapons already extended and shared from the gem on her right inner wrist.

However, her leap was not to make its' mark, as she found herself suddenly being looked straight in the eye, and she was knocked cleanly out of the air and into the ground. It wasn't a hard kick with any meaning behind it, she knew that if it had been, she would be poofed right now instead of just dazed and dizzied. When at last she was able to regain her bearings, she shook her head rapidly to clear her head.

“Nice try, Nepeta. But you're not ready to get the drop on me just yet~” Disciple smiled cheerfully as she offered a hand down to Nepeta, which was easily accepted and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet.

“Nyaww, that's too bad. Guess I'm not there yet, am I?”

“Not even close,” the older smiled cattishly. “But getting closer every day. Who knows, maybe one of these days you'll be able to dig those vicious claws into me.” Disciple clacked the edges of her own claws against Nepeta's in a simple gesture of affection that she had come to recognize. “But, today is not that day.”

“I guess.” Nepeta looked to be a bit disappointed that her attempt had failed, but her teacher always knew how to cheer her up.

“Well, now that we're just about done training, what say we go on a little hunt together?” Nepeta's face immediately lit up, and she jumped for joy.

“Yeah! Let's do it~”

–

“Right. Excellent footwork. Your stance is looking lovely.” A firm, yet smooth voice washed over the ears of her pupil as she praised her in her combat practices. The Jade, known as 'Dolorosa' to her student and the wards of her fellows, smiled down upon her like-gem pupil. Kanaya always did enjoy learning form her, whether the lessons themselves were in anything on the range from combat maneuvers to the gentler touches that caring for plants required.

“Now, let's see how much you've improved.”

“Yes, ma'am.” Kanaya hoovered her right hand over her forearm, and from it she pulled a highly modified weapon. Originally it was a simpler saw, like the one Dolorosa wielded, but hers was more akin to a modern chainsaw as a weapon than anything else. She made a simple motion and already it was revved up and prepared to cut into whatever its creator Gem willed it to be.

In motions swift as the wind, she leaped at the tree before her, chainsaw slashing left and right into the bark, only ever shaving off the darkest brown on the outside until the paler, smoother inside of the tree wood was visible in the gap.

“Alright, that's enough.” Kanaya stopped short when she at last heard Dolorosa's voice again, and stood back as she gripped her weapon, awaiting the appraisal of her results. She watched Dolorosa circle the tree, eyes narrowed over her handiwork and leaning in to see just how well she had done in her task to separate the bark while harming the wood as little as possible. At last, she stood back, and gae her pupil a warm smile.

 

“There, you've done well, Kanaya. I can't find any room to complain on your work.”

Kanaya released a breath she hadn't been aware she'd been holding, drawing only a thin smile from her elder's lips. She felt Dolorosa set her hand atop her head, before said elder turned from her and motioned back to where they had come to this place form.

“Well then, now we're done for the day, I think it's about time that we head back. Shall we?”

“Yes,” Kanaya nodded in return. “Let's.”

–-----------

A young red Gem sat alone as his back rested up against the stone beside the doors into the temples, staring out over the ocean. He'd been waiting out here all goddamn day waiting for those assholes to get back here.

'Just stay on the beach near the temple and practice your shields', they said. 'Keep out of trouble while we're gone' they said. It was all such utter frothy, oozing horseshit if they asked him. Which, obviously, nobody ever fucking bothered to. No. That's fine. Just leave him all alone with nothing to do but fuck around in the sand with shield practice until his gem dulled in the blistering, hot as sweaty balls, sun.

Karkat looked down at his own chest where said gem of his lay, dead center in the midst of his solar plexus (or what would be one on a human at least). The dark red gem, announcing him as a Rubellite to anyone who bothered to look, was surrounded by a small patch of bare skin before the rest of him was covered up by red clothing. Unlike the other Gems, no mark indicating anything else particular about him existed around the sparkly center of his own being. A trait which he apparently shared with the Gem who once existed around the very gem that he did now.

He looked up at the two statues at either end of the temple entrance, seeing the two statues on either end. They were both a bit worn, but he knew what they were of. And so did the rest of his friends, given they'd all been lectured solid on the topic so many fucking times when the older Gems rambled about their legacy and all that grand, slimy pile of ooze counted for.

The one to the left showed the hands of The Signless raised peacefully to either side of him, as if pleading out toward the empty ocean for kindness and compassion. The other told of a different story, one of the same Gem who, when unable to spread peace with his words, would stand and protect it with shield and sickle in hand. So fucking lucky, Karkat always found himself thinking. He wished he could have something badass like those sickles. But no, all he got was this shitty shield he was always left behind because of.

He slumped down again, now feeling stupidly restless. He just wanted to get up and do something, anything else.

“Karkat! We're back.” He looked up when he heard the familiar voice, and saw Kanaya and Dolorosa coming toward the temple with graceful steps across the sand. Not too far behind, he caught a glimpse of the rest of the team making their way as well.

“... Well it's about fucking time!” He shouted across the sand as he picked himself up off the ground, stomping toward them. “Do you know how much fuck-all there is do to around here when you've been told you can't leave this pus-boiled, ass-munching, void of boredom of a place all on your own!?”

And, as usual, he stormed out between the statues of his predecessor in one of his usual bouts of near-frothing anger at having been left alone as he made his way out to meet them as they came.

 


	2. Out of Idle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the young Gems converse, and a certain two have a harrowing encounter on their first official mission.

“This is such a fat, steaming load of bullshit.” Karkat's voice came out slightly muffled through the reddish barrier that his bubble shield formed. Not far away, Sollux was helping him with his training, though mostly because he was bored himself. Namely, he was using his psionic abilities to lift big rocks and drop them on top of the bubble. It helped Karkat keep his shield up and prepared for long periods of time, since he never knew when Sollux actually planned to drop the damn things and insisted on jerking him around with this when he was supposed to be helping.

“Hey, you were the one who asked me to help you with this, fuckass,” Sollux replied as he casually dropped a boulder from so many feet above the bubble. It collided with a heavy thud and quickly crumbled down into bits of rock and dust that settled around the radius formed by Karkat's bubble. By this point he'd have to climb a small hill of loose dirt to get out of there once he dropped his shields. “You think I want to spend my day dropping rocks on your sorry ass? Even if it is kinda fun, I guess. I've got better things to do with my time.”

“Not the stupid bubble training, asshole!” Karkat snapped just as another rock came down over him. “The fact that we even have to resort to sitting around here on our asses like this in the first place! The big Gems get to go out and travel the world on big adventures fighting monsters, while we sit around like helpless, wriggling, slimy little grub-spawn for them to come back so that we can let them come back with some righteous fucking victory milk nubs to shove down our protein chutes!”

“Seriously, KK, we get it. You griping isn't gonna get us any closer to getting there, you know. Besides, what good would you even do in a battle anyway? You just fuck around and practice making shields and bubbles here at the temple while we're all out training.” Another boulder was lobbed at Karkat's general direction, but this one just flew over the top without even skimming it. It was clear that Sollux was losing interest in all of this.

“Hey! I will have you know, that I make great shields! Better something that'll keep all your sorry asses out of trouble when the time comes! You're gonna be up against some giant monster, all freaking the fuck out because you dove yourself head-first into some trouble swill and find you're thinking 'man oh man, I do wish I had a fucking shield right about now. That would be so fucking kickass, but I don't, and that's because I'm stupid and dumb'. You see? That's you, that's what you're gonna fucking sound like!”

“Oh my Jegus.” Sollux had picked up another rock, but then dropped it into the sand. “You know what? Whatever, I'm over this. This is just a fucking waste of time.”

“Hey! Where the fuck do you think you're going, asshole?!” Karkat's voice was far more clear as he snapped now, since he had dropped his shields when Sollux started to walk away.

“Into my room to do some reading, jackass,” he lisped. “If we're going to be here at the temple for any while longer, I might as well do something actually useful with my time.”

“Well fuck you too, snaggle-spark!” Karkat scrambled up the slope of bits of rock just to shoot a middle finger at Sollux's retreating back. Below them, where she had been sitting silently for the majority of the previous conversation, Kanaya sighed. She had been taking the time to practice her eye for design, mainly in creating a sandcastle. But now she saw it was time to get between the two arguing Gems.

“I think you both could stand to give it a rest by now. You've been going on like this for the past hour now. If you wish to know about our readiness to pursue real missions with them so badly, then we can ask about the possibility once they return. Which, as I believe I recall, should really be any moment now. So no need to go at one another's throats about this whole affair.”

As she spoke, she had just finished shaping the edging of a sand castle spire with the tip of her finger, when all of a sudden there was an excited yowl and her intricate contraption was utterly flattened by Nepeta flying in from above. The felinesque girl let out excited, yowling giggles as she rolled around in the sand, while Kanaya only let out a slightly agitated sigh that she allowed herself.

“Yeah you guys, no need to get all catty~” Nepeta giggled when she finally sat upright. “I'm sure that they'd let us go if we only went n'yasked them~”

“First of, Nepeta, never use that pun again. Ever. Or I will reach down my own ears and rip out my audio sponges from my thinkpan so I never have to hear it again,” Karkat said in as near a deadpan as he could get for how loudly his default volume was. “And secondly, what the fuck will asking them do us? They're just gonna be as cagey, avoiding the question, and infuriatingly goddamn non-addressing about it as they always have been.”

“Well, yes, that may be the case if we go by all our previous times,” Kanaya agreed slowly. Nepeta had rolled herself into her lap, so Kanaya was rubbing the other Gem girl's head as she answered. “But, I will be honest, I've got something of a feeling about today. Silly as it may sound, I think it wouldn't hurt for us to give it a try at least. Who knows, perhaps today might be our lucky day.”

“Yeah. Right. And I'm a fucking marine slug oozing about at the bottom of the ocean looking for my next meal to bottomfeed,” Karkat snorted.

“Yeah, isn't that usually a nighttime thing for you, Karkat?” Sollux called over his shoulder.

“I thought you were fucking leaving, jackass!”

“I am now!” Sollux muttered under his breath as he made to expose his gem to the door of the temple, but then all of a sudden a light shone up behind him, and all four of the young gems looked to the tele-pad where they found the older Gems standing easily as they warped back in.

“Oh, hello children. You're all here, good.” Dolorosa stepped down from the pad daintily beside Psiioniic, while Disciple simply smiled and pounced off of it with admittedly far less grace so that she could be greeted midair by Nepeta.

“Welcome back, all of you. I do hope that your mission was a success,” Kanaya greeted politely as she stood up from the sand and dusted herself off.

“Yup, everything went just as we intended.” Psiioniic held up an oddly shaped stone in his hand, but didn't elaborate any further on the item and just let the stone itself, whatever it was, be proof of whatever the hell they'd accomplished.

“Fan-fucking-tastic, then. Another mission accomplished by the mighty protectors of the Earth, while we sit here at home twiddling our thumbs and playing in the sand.” Sollux snarked from the temple door. “Guess the conquering heroes return victorious. Bravo.” He rolled his eyes behind his shades, drawing a look of scorn from the elder Captor. This was slightly mollified, however, by Dolorosa stepping forward and looking at the children. Even Disciple stopped wrestling with Nepeta in the sand to look up at her when she spoke.

“Actually, Sollux, the three of us have been talking a bit on that very subject...”

 

 

“Great icy shit this place is eerie,” Karkat muttered. He, Sollux, and Psiioniic made their way through the icy caves of the North. Their reflections refracted and distorted back at them when they looked into the walls of ice that made up the place's structure. “Are we sure this thing we're looking for is even here? I don't think anything in its right mind would come here willingly without some sort of reason.

“It's here alright, and that's why I need you both to stay on your guard.” Psiioniic's words were short and curt, not giving either younger Gems much room to argue the matter.

According to their sources, there were two different monsters in two different areas. Given this would be their first official mission, the elder Gems had decided it prudent to split up and give the younger Gems their own chances to encounter their usual threats. Dolorosa and Disciple had taken Nepeta and Kanaya to the desert for theirs, while Psiioniic claimed sole responsibility for both Karkat and Sollux.

“You still haven't exactly told us what the hell we're even looking for,” Karkat quipped. “All we know is that it's some kind of monster. You haven't said anything about what it looks like or what it does or fucking anything else other than 'oh hey it's right here, let's go wander around in fuck all amount of circles into this freezer until we can just call ourselves done and can jam popsickle sticks up our-”

“I can't tell you because we don't know any of that,” Psiioniic cut off the small, red Gem. “We know that there is a monster here, but we don't know anything past that. Which, once again, is why you both need to keep up your guards. We can't let it get the drop on us.”

“Oh please,” Sollux groaned. “It's nothing but a mindless, feral monster. How in the hell could something so stupid ever hope to-” Before he could even finish his sentence, both he and Karkat were knocked into by some large, screeching mass.

“Karkat! Sollux!” Psiioniic shouted as the two were shoved away down a side cave by the thing that had barreled into them. Both young Gems shouted and flailed as they were sent flying. Before they could hit the oncoming cave wall, Karkat managed to grab hold of Sollux and sent out a bubble around the two of them. This didn't stop them from slamming against the inside of the bubble as it bounced around the corridor, of course, but it did get the monster away from their persons and kept them from hitting the ice's far sharper edges. The two groaned as the bubble shield finally rolled to a stop, sitting up and rubbing their heads.

“Ow, my goddamn head,” Karkat hissed. “You okay, Sollux?” Sollux shook his head as he adjusted his glasses.

“Urgh, yeah, I think so. Just what in the hell was-” Something suddenly slammed up against the side of the reddish bubble, which Karkat had yet to drop, causing the both of them to jump and shout with surprise. The thing that pressed against it didn't even seem like it should be a real creature. It looked less like a true monster and more of just a mass of randomly assorted limbs. “What in the ever living fuck is that?!”

“The hell should I know?! I'm not exactly an expert in the art of fucking limb-beast identification science, Sollux!” Karkat snapped.

“Not a real thing, and can we act like assholes to each other later, asshole?!” Sollux snipped back at him. The bubble seemed to be holding the... thing back for now, but it certainly wasn't lacking in persistence as it tried so hard to breach Karkat's barrier. “Well, how the hell are we gonna get out of this? I can't even use my psionics through this stupid bubble, let alone stick a weapon through here.”

“Hey asshole, if you want me to drop this bubble and let our asses get poofed by this fucking thing the moment we're exposed, be my fucking guest.” The two glared at each other, but were startled out of it by the thing attempting to lift the bubble into the air above its head. “Oh shit, what are we gonna do?!”

“Hold on, children!” Both the two young Gems and the creature turned in the direction of the new voice, but a sudden blast of red and blue energy sent the monstrous creature away from them.

“Psiioniic!” Karkat pressed his palms against the bubble to look out and get a better view of him. The yellow Gem strode forward without fear, crackling with psychic energy and throwing stars from his gem in hand.

“Well, seems that you two started off your first mission with a mutant instead of a monster. Guess you two were thrown into the deep end with this one.”

“A mutant?” Karkat and Sollux hadn't heard a mention of any mutants before, but Psiioniic didn't seem in much of a mood to elaborate. Not while his eyes glowed so brightly and his body crackled with visible dual-color sparks. The 'mutant' creature screeched and lunged at him, now ignoring the shielded children in favor of this newer, much more exposed Gem. It screeched with an unseeable mouth, charging at him with all its' speed. Then, its momentum was stopped right in its tracks, and was lifted up in the air. Before it could even comprehend what was happening, Psiioniic threw two of his stars and hit it dead center in the midst of its mass of limbs. It screeched, shuddered, then finally poofed in a small cloud of white. A crystalline mass of jagged gem fell out. Without a word, the yellow elder Gem picked it up and enclosed it in a small bubble, which then vanished with the smallest of taps.

His task complete, he now turned his attention to the two younger Gems, both obviously shaken, but also in some awe. He gave them a small, snaggle-toothed smirk at the looks on their shocked faces.

“Well, I guess congratulations are in order. You two have officially survived your first ever mission.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know, Karkat using shields like Steven kind of feels like copying a lot off the show. This will happen with a few of his powers throughout the story. But kindly be patient and it will hopefully make a bit of sense to everyone later.


	3. A Brief Battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Gems must defend their temple from a small monster invasion, and Karkat is saved by an invisible benefactor.

“Karkat! Kanaya! Heads up!” Karkat dove into Kanaya, tackling her into the surf when Nepeta called out to them, the dive sending them both into the water as Karkat put a shield up around the two of them. Not a moment later, the cat-like gem herself splashed down into the water where they had just been, landing atop one of the gem monsters they were fighting. It vanished with a bubbly poof under the surface of the waves, and she stood victorious with a small orange gem in her hand. “Nya ha! Nepeta stands victorious with the gem of her monster foe in hand! How purroud and furoucious she is!”

“Lufurly job, Nepeta!” Disciple called out to her pupil. She held a clawed thumbs up, while holding another small monster out away from her body at arm's length.

“Kanaya! Karkat! Are you both alright?” Dolorosa looked over her shoulder at the two younger Gems as she cleaved apart another monster with her weapon, shouting to be heard over the crackling sparks of Psiioniic and Sollux using their powers.

“We are fine!” Kanaya called through the bubble. Karkat let it fall so that she could step out, and they dove right back into the fray.

“Where the shit did these slimy fuck-noodles even slither out from?!” Karkat growled as he used his arm shield to bash one away from himself. A quick whirl and he was able to use the shield's edge to slice its head from its body, causing it to poof mid-air. He kicked the thing's gem out onto the sand just in time to stop another from crashing into him. “And why are there so fucking many?!”

“They may have been migrating out from their previous home. Dolorosa did mention fighting some creatures that sound very similar to these not long ago on a previous mission,” Kanaya mused as she sliced into another. “Perhaps they tried to move when their nest was disturbed.” She went quiet a moment so as not to be interrupted when Nepeta went flying over their heads while shrieking like a banshee as she barreled into a thing mid-air.

“Just hold out a bit longer, everyone!” Psiioniic used his powers to pull a creature in half in mid-air as he shouted at the rest. “The head of the swarm should surface soon. Once we've done it in, we should be in the clear.”

“Oh, right, so we'll just keep on bashing things in the meanwhile!” Karkat retorted back. He smacked away another creature with his shield, and Kanaya cleaved it in half. Nepeta kept on vaulting herself over their heads, splashing down in the water as she seemed to be more playing with their foes than poofing them.

Just as it seemed they had almost cleared through all of them, the ground began shaking under their feet. The three in the water felt the small waves lap up against their knees as they stared at land.

“What's happening now?!” Karkat cried out, trying to keep his balance amidst all the shaking.

“It's the head!” Psiioniic called back, tensing to prepare for the last stretch of the battle.

“Brace yourselves, children!” Dolorosa called out to them. As if right on cue, the sand burst apart on the shore, and a great screeching head reared itself back. The younger Gems covered their ears against the sound, but the eldest thee leaped straight into action. Psiioniic, and Sollux when he recovered from the shrieks, used their powers to lift it out of the ground and hold it steady over the water so it couldn't escape. Meanwhile, Dolorosa, Disciple, and Nepeta leaped toward it and set to work on slashing into it with their weapons.

“Come on, Karkat. Let us help finish it off!” Kanaya leaped after them, chainsaw at the ready. Karkat was just about ready to follow and pitch in his fair share of the action, but instead found himself face-first in the water as one of the leftover smaller creatures snagged him by the cuff of his pants and kept him from taking off from the ground.

“Motherfu-!” he didn't get out the whole curseword as he landed in the water, and immediately had to flip over and set to bashing the monster in the face with his shield to get it to let go. “Get! The fuck! Off me! You stupid! Snaggle-faced! Monster!”

While Karkat dealt with his own problems, the rest of the Gems were hard at work trying to take down the biggest one they had faced yet. Going by sheer size, this thing was most certainly the boss monster. It didn't seem like it was going down, no matter how many blows they hit it with. Even Sollux and Psiioniic pulling on it together wasn't quite working as they had to put too much energy into keeping it still enough to let the rest hit it. It writhed and hissed and shrieked at them all, monstrous maw wide open to force out those sounds of primal rage. Before their eyes, it reared back, closing its mouth, then suddenly lashed outward, letting loose a spray of acid from its mouth.

Kanaya and Nepeta dodged out of the way as the wave of burning liquid headed for the water, but Karkat, who had just managed to bash his monstrous little foe into poofing, was still in the way.

“Karkat! Watch out!” Nepeta shouted at him in warning, but Karkat barely had time to turn and catch a glimpse of the danger before he let out a yelp as he splashed backwards into the water. The acid hissed as it hit the ocean water, bubbling at the top until it fizzled itself out.

“ _Karkat!_ ”

 

–

 

Karkat almost didn't know what had happened for a moment. One second he had seen some sort of liquid flying toward him, the next he was yanked backwards into the water by his shirt. Now that he was a bit more aware of his surroundings, he could also see that he was somehow much further out into deeper water than he had originally been. He let out the breath he had been holding in surprise, looking around in confusion. Thankfully, Gems didn't need to breathe as organic creatures did, so there was no immediate urge for him to return to the surface for air.

Still, they'd been in the middle of battle just a moment ago, and he had to get back. Couldn't hang out underwater all day.

He moved to swim back up, but found himself held back. Something still had a firm grasp on the back of his shirt, and even when he tried to struggle, he couldn't made it let him go. He couldn't even see what the hell had a hold on him. Twist and turn as he may to see what was holding him back, it looked like there was nothing there. Yet he knew felt the grip on his clothing, and _something_ was holding him down so he couldn't resurface.

At last, he'd had enough, and formed a bubble around himself in hopes it would force whatever had him to let go. Thankfully, it seemed to work, because as soon as the bubble went up he felt a hard tug on his shirt, but no longer the pressure of being held down. He grinned in triumph. Whatever the hell had gotten him, it didn't have him anymore.

He was about to drop the bubble so he could get himself back up, but let out a muted sound of surprise when the outside of the bubble seemed to crackle with small sparks of red and blue. In moments, he found his bubble being lifted speedily out of the water, thought he inside was still full of it, leaving him floating in a bubble of ocean once he was lifted back into the air.

As expected by the sparks which had brought about his ascent from the ocean, it was the Psiioniic who had lifted him out. Sollux was strong with his powers, but the elder would have had more reach and precision when searching him out without being able to see him. He was brought over to the beach and gently placed down, through the walls of the bubble he could see Disciple picking up a large gem from the sand and bubbling it before sending it off to the temple.

Dolorosa tried to say something to Karkat, but between the bubble's walls and the water that it still held, it was all lost to the immense amount of muffling insulation. Sollux groaned behind her and motioned downward with his hands, an indication clearly telling him to drop his bubble. Karkat complied with some exaggerated exasperation, raising a finger to tell him to wait a moment before he let the bubble's walls burst, releasing the water so it gushed out onto the sand, leaving him standing there soaked in the midst of a circle of wet sand, but otherwise fine.

“There, now I can hear you. What do you want?” He was still fairly coarse, as usual, but as always, he made an effort to be not quite as much of an ass toward Dolorosa. She and Kanaya were the only two Gems he didn't feel the need to make quite as much theatrics of his outbursts and tantrums towards when he decided to flip his shit.

“I was asking if you were alright, Karkat. We were worried that the monster's acid had gotten to you, though I suppose you're fine since you seem no worse for the wear.” She came up to him and took his face into her hands, looking him over even in spite of his cringing and struggles to get free of her touch as she examined him. “How did you get that far out into the water and... what in the world happened to your shirt?” She had looked over his head to behind him, and had apparently caught a glimpse of the back of it. Karkat reached a hand behind himself to touch his back and, sure enough, he could feel a large rip in his outfit.

“I don't fucking know. Think something grabbed me and pulled me under, couldn't see what the fuck it was, though.” The shirt was a simple matter, as clothes always were for Gems. He just had to think, and it was repaired. Easy as he could have just made an entirely new shirt for himself altogether. But he didn't want to bother with that, so now the red fabric was just as smooth as before. “Maybe I got caught in a riptide or something that dragged me out. Either way, monster's poofed, right?”

“Yeah. No thanks to your bubble-ass deciding to take a dip while we did all the work,” Sollux snarked from further up the beach.

“Oh! You know fucking what you two-tone-eyed nook-sucker-!” Karkat immediately turned to Sollux and marched his way up the beach, ready to deliver one of his usual tongue-lashings. Dolorosa only sighed, but smiled, and followed the two younger Gems back toward the temple as they bickered.

All the while, none of the Gems on the beach were aware of the pair of beady eyes gazing after them as they made their way up form the water. A creature of an almost ghostly white, beady black eyes staring after them, as two large claws edged slightly above the water. However, it soon sunk back into the surf, body slowly losing its' stark white coloring in favor of shimmering translucent as it swam its way back into deeper water. A piece of red fabric still clutched between its' claws.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yus indeed. This was the doing of Crabdad. Sort of.  
> All shall be explained in later chapters.


	4. Fortunate Stumbles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Karkat takes a stumble, and meets a mysterious Gem in the darkness.

“Woooow~ This place is so purretty~” Nepeta giggled as she bounded along the walls, balancing on the slight grooved line that it provided as she examined he crystalline surfaces of the walls. Meanwhile, Karkat, Sollux, Psiioniic, and Disciple all remained on the ground as they walked the normal pathway that Nepeta chose to ignore in favor of what she called 'the fun way'.

“God she's so shrill about everything,” Sollux muttered crabbily. He hadn't wanted to attend to this mission, but with their schedules growing ever stricter and their duties bearing more responsibility, it was getting less the time he had to work on his own pet projects back in his room in the temple. Psiioniic tapped his young ward on the top of his head with a fingertip.

“Stay focused, Sollux. We're nearly there.”

“Tell that to her, then,” Sollux grumped right back. “She's the one leaping around like a cockroach strung out on stimulants.”

“Aw, come on now, Psii,” Disciple smiled appealingly. “Let the kids have a bit more free reign, this is an easy mission.”

“You are under my watch and my teachings, Sollux,” Psiioniic said simply before glancing to his fellow. “And you have your own to worry about, Disciple. I'll leave yours to you and you leave mine to me.”

Karkat had already been able to tell when an argument had begun brewing. So, in an attempt to avoid getting caught up in it, he'd walked out ahead of the rest of them. Even Nepeta, who had paused in her wall-leapings to turn an ear towards the arguments that the adults were having. The other four hardly noticed Karkat making his way on up ahead with all their goings on distracting them. In his mind, the quieter their voices got while they were doing this, the better.

Eventually, the narrow hallway fed out into a larger one, with doors lining either side, and one big door up ahead. Karkat stopped to glance behind him, where he could still hear the faint echoes of the older Gems' voices from where he had come. A soft 'ugh' left his lips, and he decided he still didn't want to bother with that for now. Still, he didn't just want to go wandering hallways left and right, and possibly get himself lost like a fucking idiot. So he opted for the big doorway at the end of the hall. At least if he went that route he'd have the option of just turning right the fuck around and walking back without any trouble.

He wandered his way through the doorway before stopping just after entering the room. The ceilings were carved and domed far above his head, making him feel like he was at the bottom of a giant tube of some sort. Four giant figures were etched into the curves of the ceiling, the color of the primitive caricatures slightly faded, but their images recognizable. Four images, one for each of the Diamonds: Pink Diamond the Condescending, Green Diamond the Handler, Black Diamond the Shatterer, and... Red Diamond.

Strangely enough, even the chatterbox history book Psiioniic didn't have much to say on the last of the Diamonds. When pressed, he just looked vaguely uncomfortable and declared that day's history lesson be over before anyone could protest. Not that it bothered Karkat or any of his friends. These 'lessons' were typically both impromptu and annoying as all fuck, and usually consisting of the stomach-churning atrocities of both the Diamonds and Homeworld, so having one cut short made it all the better in his book.

He took his eyes away from the ceiling and took a better look around the room. It seemed to be a storage area, or something. Psiioniic had called this place 'The Diamond Edifice', apparently a pretty important place on Earth back before the Rebellion took place. While the outside certainly didn't look it from where they had entered, this room looked almost pristine despite the years passed by.

_What the hell was it they said we were looking for again?_ Damn it, he had completely forgotten what even the purpose of this mission was. He groaned inwardly. Well, fuck it all, then. It was the older Gems faults for not keeping them on track by not arguing.

Well, looks like it was about time to suck it up and go back to see if they were done arguing or if he'd have to... Hello there? What was that? He came closer to a large structure in the center of the room. Upon coming closer, it appeared to be some sort of control panel. What had managed to catch his attention was what appeared to be some sort of button on it. It was... glowing? Why in the hell would that be? Nothing else in this place seemed to be working. Why would this be all lit up? Before he even realized he had done it, he had reached out and placed his hand on the button, and pressed down.

And then immediately blanked with panic as he realized the floor had disappeared from beneath him, and he was sent plummeting straight down into darkness.

He screamed and cursed and flailed out, trying to catch the walls or something that might slow his descent. He could almost feel the floor fast approaching, panic spreading through him thickly. At last, though, just before impact was made, he sent out a reddish bubble around himself, barely in time to feel the wall of it meet the uneven ground, ricocheting him off at an angle. He felt himself being bounced around quite a it, still shouting and squeezing his eyes shut as he bounced off the insides of the bubble's walls.

After what seemed to be forever of being bounced around, he finally rolled to a stop, groaning with his face into the lower curve of the bubble. It didn't hurt much, but he felt dizzy and discombobulated from the sudden, violent trip. He sat up and dropped the bubble, trying to lean with one hand braced against the floor for balance, but then yelped and immediately pulled his hand back up when he felt a bunch of sharp somethings digging into his palm. He cursed loudly and brought his hand to his face, trying to see what it was that had jabbed him, and froze.

No skin was broken, despite the sudden pain, but he could still see little slivers pressed into his hand. Little, shiny, red slivers. His hand began to tremble and he felt something cold drop into the pit of his gut as he looked down around him, and his breath caught in his throat. All around him, the floor was shiny, reddish, just as his hand currently was. All scattered about and nearly reduced to slivers.

A Gem. He had landed smack dab in the middle of a pile of a Gem's shattered shards.

The screech of revulsion that formed in his throat got caught somewhere on the way out, so all that escaped his mouth was an elongated, high pitched squeak as he scrambled backwards from the spot. Oh god, he'd landed in the remains of another Gem. He felt his head spin, he was going to be sick for sure. Oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god oh-

He yelped in a panic when he felt his hand and elbow each connect with something at the same time, whipping his head to see just what sort of mess he'd stuck his limbs into this time. Thankfully for his poor heart, it wasn't any more remains. His hand was resting upon some sort of rectangular metallic device, while his elbow had knocked against a small bubble. Floating within it, suspended in the center, was a gem.

Starting to calm down a bit, and possibly in some shock, Karkat placed the rectangle on his leg, and reached to pick up the bubble. He held it cautiously in his hands, looking it over carefully. It definitely looked more like a normal bubble, like they used when they poofed and captured monsters and mutants. Thing was, there was no telling just what was inside it. The only way that he might be able to tell what was inside of it was if he were to pop it, and there was no way in hell he'd be stupid enough to-

Okay never mind, maybe he was stupid enough to. Or at least there was something out there that was telling him he was stupid for even going to pick it up. Because the damn thing burst right in his hands, making him start as the gem suspended inside was now without barrier between it and him.

He froze up instinctively as he watched it, seeing it slowly float a few feet away from him. It began to glow, lighting up the room in a greenish light as a figure seemed to emerge from it. It formed slowly, but he could see it forming. Arms, legs, head, until at last it solidified and the glow faded, and the Gem that had emerged landed heavily on her knees in front of him.

She was oddly angular and sharp looking, not even just those shark teeth that he could see behind her lips as her mouth gaped open slightly. Her elbows and knees looked like they were chiseled haphazardly from a piece of ice, leaving them long and jutting, and her fingertips seemed to taper off to needle points. What really seemed to get him was her eyes. In the middle of all that tealish green, they were starkly red, without pupils of any sort. They seemed blank but felt like they bored straight into his being at the same time. With his mouth gaping slightly, all that could escape him was a soft 'uh'.

They stayed like that a while, neither really seemed intent on moving, until he could hear a panicked voice calling out his name.

“Karkat!” Within moments, Disciple and Nepeta had hurled themselves down through the hole in the ceiling, landing nimbly on their feet, while Psiioniic with his less than boundless patience had seemed to envelop both himself and Sollux in blue and red sparks, and brought them down himself.

“Karkat! Karkat are you al-” Disciple halted in the midst of her worried shouts, seeing the scene they had entered upon. Karkat's eyes darted between the lot of them, while the strange Gem before him seemed to turn around sluggishly and blinked uncertainly in their direction. Karkat felt like he should maybe say something, just to dispel some of the awkwardness in the atmosphere.

“... Um... I can explain.”

–

Despite some... rather awkward questions that were asked between finding this Gem girl and bringing her back to the temple, they had managed to ascertain a few things about her.

Firstly, despite her strange greenish hue, she was certainly a Pyrope, she was saying that with certainty. Psiioniic questioned her truthfulness on this matter, but Dolorosa had pointed out that whatever had accounted for her green hue might also be linked to her eyes, and she said it with such conviction, so it didn't seem she was lying.

Which brought to the second point of her strangeness, that being that she was completely fucking blind. Which might have explained her weird-ass eyes to be honest. They were so blank that it seemed pretty fucking obvious in hindsight that they weren't seeing anything. All the staring was just her facing in one direction (though that didn't decrease the creepiness factor at all). Both her color and eyes were attributed to possibly having been incubated too long, so those were two mysteries solved.

The third, however, was less easily explained. The fact of why she was so far beneath the Diamond Edifice in the first place. That, she had no answer to give. She claimed her consciousness began right there, she had no recollection of what had happened to her before she was bubbled up under there.

On general consensus, they had agreed that Sollux would take care of examining the data drive that Karkat had stumbled upon along with the previously bubbled Pyrope, hopefully he could decipher some answers about her from looking through it once he hacked it. It was older tech, though, so it would take a bit more time, but he claimed he would get it done.

Then, once the short interrogations had been declared over, there was only the matter of deciding what to do with her. Bubbling the Pyrope again seemed a bit cruel, since she had only gained consciousness. However, there weren't any more rooms available in the temple, and each of the Gems were already doubled up with their older like Gems. Well, most of them, at least.

Which is what brought them here.

“So, um... this is my room, I guess.” Karkat scratched the back of his head awkwardly as he watched the Pyrope wander around a bit. She'd removed a cane from the gem situated on her forehead, and was using it to tap around so she could find her way. Handy, he supposed, if it was multi purpose for her like that. Not that there was much for her to bump into. The most there was were the soft, plush pillow-like things situated all over the room, nice and luxurious for sitting or lying down (not that he was inclined to waste time like that, he was a busy guy), and the shallow pools lit up with red from beneath so that they looked somewhat like blood that lined around the edges of his room. “You can come in here whenever so you can rest or what the fuck ever. I don't care, just as long as you don't mess with my shit.

The Pyrope sniffed at the air, showing a grin with her unnervingly sharp teeth.

“Well, I'll say one thing, it smells _really_ good in here.” Karkat cocked an eyebrow, taking a quiet sniff himself. Didn't smell all that great. It just smelled like his room. Well, whatever.

“Okay... So yeah. Would give you the grand tour, but not much here to... well... to see,” he coughed awkwardly as he remembered the whole blindness thing mid-sentence. Fuck. She didn't seem to mind, though. If anything, she just giggled at him. It was somehow more grating than her shrill voice. He winced at the sound.

“I'll keep that in mind,” she smirked in his direction. Karkat sighed, plopping himself down on one of the marshmallow-soft puffs, and quickly found himself joined by her. He hadn't expected her to sit so close, and coughed nervously.

“So, um... is there anything I can call you?” he asked awkwardly. “I mean, I know you're a fucking Pyrope, but... do you have a name? If you don't, we can probably try to think of one for you, I guess. I don't fucking know.”

“Hm... nope, no name I can recall,” she shrugged easily, rapping her cane smartly against her foot. “So I guess making one up it is.” She lolled her head left and right, 'hmm'ing long and hard as she thought. “Hmmm... Well, all things considered... I think I kind of like 'Terezi'.”

“Terezi, huh?” Karkat repeated her name back at her, considering. “... Yeah, I guess that could work for you. You seem like a Terezi.” Not that he really knew what he even fucking meant by that. She seemed to find it amusing, though, because she let out that nails on a chalkboard laugh again.

“Well then, Terezi I am. Nice to properly introduce myself to you, Karkat.”

“Uh, yeah... you too,” he muttered. They sat there in silence a moment, neither really knowing what to do. That was, however, until he noticed her leaning closer to him. Her nose was twitching and he could hear the soft whispers of breath as she sniffed. “Uh... what the fuck are you doing?” He started to lean away, to get out of the path of her incoming nose, when suddenly her tongue lashed out, and she drew a long, slobbery line up his neck and over his cheek with her tongue. “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!” he screeched, jumping up and away from her. She smacked her lips loudly, while Karkat tried furiously to wipe at her saliva on him.

“Hey! You taste like candy red! It's delicious~” He gave her the most revolted look he could muster, not even caring that she couldn't even see it. “Hey, come here. I want another taste!”

“Fuck no! Get the fuck away from me you freak!” He jumped and bolted across the room from her, dodging every move to try to keep out of range of this obviously deranged girl who seemed determined to have another taste of his color.

God, this girl was going to be impossible to live with.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact for the day. Some pyrope gems are actually known to turn a shade of green when exposed to heat~


End file.
